Western Athletic Conference facts for kids

The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is a group of colleges and universities. Most of these schools are in the Western United States. They play NCAA Division I sports against each other every year.

The WAC currently has 10 member schools:

• University of Denver
• University of Idaho
• Louisiana Tech University
• New Mexico State University
• San José State University
• Seattle University
• Texas State University–San Marcos (Texas State)
• University of Texas at Arlington (UT Arlington)
• Utah State University
• University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA)

The future of the WAC is uncertain. Many schools are planning to leave by July 2013.

History of the WAC

How the WAC Started

The WAC began in 1962 with six schools from the western U.S. These were the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, Brigham Young University (BYU), the University of New Mexico, the University of Utah, and the University of Wyoming. Other schools, like the University of Oregon, Oregon State University, and Washington State University, thought about joining. However, they chose to join what is now the Pacific-12 Conference instead. New Mexico State and Utah State also wanted to join at first, but they were not accepted until 2005.

Growing Bigger: First Schools Join

The WAC grew to eight members in 1967. Colorado State University and the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) joined then. In the 1970s, many people moved to Arizona. This made the two Arizona schools very strong, especially in football. Arizona and Arizona State left the WAC in 1978. They joined the Pacific-8 Conference, which later became the Pacific-10 (and now the Pacific-12).

The WAC added new schools to replace them. San Diego State University joined in 1978. The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (Hawaiʻi) joined in 1979. The United States Air Force Academy (Air Force) joined in 1980. This group of nine teams stayed together for the next 15 years.

More Growth: Second Expansion Wave

In 1990, the WAC added women's sports. It took in the High Country Athletic Conference, which was a women's sports league. Most of the schools in that league were already in the WAC. Two years later, California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) joined the WAC.

Later, the Southwest Conference (SWC) closed down. This caused many schools to look for new leagues. In 1996, six schools joined the WAC. Three of them—Rice University, Southern Methodist University (SMU), and Texas Christian University (TCU)—came from the SWC. The other schools were San Jose State and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), both from the Big West Conference. The University of Tulsa joined from the Missouri Valley Conference. At the same time, Air Force and Hawaiʻi also brought their women's sports into the WAC. After all these changes, the WAC had 16 members.

The Conference Splits Up

Many of the schools that were in the WAC before 1990 were not happy with a 16-team league. The conference now stretched from Hawaii to Oklahoma. This covered five time zones and about 3,900 miles (6,300 km). Travel costs became a big problem.

In 1999, the conference divided. Seven of the older members—Air Force, BYU, Colorado State, New Mexico, San Diego State, Utah, and Wyoming—left. They joined with UNLV to create the Mountain West Conference (MW).

The WAC in the 2000s

After the split, the WAC quickly added a new member. The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada) joined from the Big West in 2000. Later that year, the Big West announced it would no longer have football teams. Four schools from that conference—Boise State University, the University of Idaho, New Mexico State University, and Utah State University—still wanted to play football. Boise State was accepted by the WAC right away and joined in 2001. Louisiana Tech University also joined the WAC with Boise State. The other three Big West football schools did not join the WAC at that time.

Later in the 2000s, the WAC was affected by more changes in college sports. The Big East Conference lost three members in 2004 and 2005. It then invited schools from Conference USA (C-USA) to join. In turn, C-USA looked for new members from other conferences. Four WAC schools—Rice, SMU, TCU, and Tulsa—accepted invitations to join C-USA in 2005. The WAC responded by adding the three schools that had played Big West football: Idaho, New Mexico State, and Utah State.

Recent Changes and Future Questions

Another big wave of conference changes started in 2010. The Big Ten Conference and the Pacific-10 announced plans to expand. This caused a chain reaction that affected all 11 conferences with top-level Division I FBS football teams. The WAC was hit the hardest, and its future as a Division I conference is now in serious doubt.

The first change for the WAC happened in June 2010. After the MW lost Utah, Boise State accepted an invitation to join the MW in 2011. Two months later, BYU also left the MW. The MW then invited two WAC members, Fresno State and Nevada. Both accepted and left for the MW in 2012.

In November 2010, Denver, Texas State, and UTSA were invited to join the WAC in 2012. All of them accepted. In the same month, Hawaiʻi announced it would leave the WAC in 2012. It joined the Big West for most sports and the MW for football. In the summer of 2011, two more schools accepted invitations to join in 2012—Seattle and UT Arlington. These changes meant that for the first time, the WAC would have members without football teams. Denver, Seattle, and UT Arlington do not have football teams. One month later, Boise State said it would rejoin the WAC for most of its sports in 2013. Its football team would move to the Big East.

However, the WAC faced big problems in spring 2012. Five members announced they would leave in July 2013. Three of the new 2012 members will only stay in the WAC for one year. UTSA will join C-USA. Texas State and UT Arlington will move to the Sun Belt Conference. Louisiana Tech will also join C-USA. San Jose State and Utah State will join the MW. To make things worse for the WAC, Boise State decided not to rejoin the WAC in 2013. Instead, its non-football sports will go to the Big West.

These changes will leave the WAC with only four members in 2013. The NCAA requires at least six schools for a conference to be a full Division I member.

See also

In Spanish: Western Athletic Conference para niños